


Surprise

by draw_me_a_lama



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No One Ring, Elf Culture & Customs, Elves, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Legolas is sleepy, One Shot, Sleep Deprivation, True Sleep, elves are weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:27:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21935215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draw_me_a_lama/pseuds/draw_me_a_lama
Summary: The Fellowship is meeting up in the Shire to celebrate the end of the year.Legolas wants to surprise his friends. It works but not the way he intended to.Created for Datcilly on Tumblr as part of the 2019 Tolkien Secret Santa gift exchange.
Relationships: Legolas Greenleaf & The Fellowship of the Ring
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53
Collections: Tolkien Secret Santa 2019





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> A little something on elves and sleep.

When it comes to sleep, elves have always been peculiar towards it. With being immortal and being capable of staying awake for long periods, sleeping does not always come naturally. The risk for an elf to be pushing their bodies so hard that they exhaust themselves without knowing it is real. Usually, there are symptoms an elf can look for to know it is time to rest but in some cases, the body simply overpowers the mind and forces it to sleep.

Legolas prided himself in knowing his limits and never losing track of his sleeping needs. He had never experienced any of the telling symptoms nor been forced to "true" sleep.

\-------------

He was travelling to the Shire to see his friends and companions for their usual meeting to celebrate the end of the year. The Fellowship expected him to arrive in a few days but he wanted to surprise his friends (and beat any other travelling member of the Fellowship to the Shire) and so he had decided to travel day and night non-stop to arrive early.

Once there, he snuck inside the new stables, that their hobbit friends had built in recent years to accommodate the members of the Fellowship who preferred to travel by horse.

The elf put his pack down there and was ready to go and surprise his friends when he started to feel dizzy. Unbalanced and with dulled senses Legolas panicked. He had never felt so weak.

Even in the rare cases where he had gotten injured during a battle, he always managed to keep perfect control of his body's reaction.

He stumbled, not knowing what was happening and realizing he was alone.

The fair elf felt terrified.

His lids were beginning to fall, and it was near painful to open them, making the idea of laying down, curling up and sleeping until it was over an appealing idea.

Half unconscious, Legolas had just the time to think about finding a warm, cosy place to rest and then lying down so he would not injure himself when he collapsed before he fell asleep.

\-------------

The day the members of the Fellowship were to arrive in the Shire, Frodo decided to go and greet them at the borders of the land.

He spent most of the morning reading under a big tree, snacking on some dried fruits and nuts when he hears the first set of riders going down the path.

Frodo packs his stuff quickly and runs up to meet the newcomers.

He can already see two horses at a walk, one piebald and the other bay. He immediately recognized Boromir and Aragorn and goes to meet them, using a fallen tree to elevate himself to the riders’ line of sight.

"Aragorn! Boromir!" He called. “You’re early."

They both turned to him at the familiar greeting.

"Frodo." Greeted Aragorn stroking Brego’s neck unconsciously, to calm the horse.

Aragorn smiled kindly at the hobbit, he was obviously trying to not laugh at his friend’s antics, his upbringing with the elves of Rivendell had made him a calm and steady man and a kind king. Boromir, he did not hold back and laughed amicably.

"Nice to see you too, Frodo."

He slowed his horse and dropped the reins, and extended an arm to Frodo who took it readily and was lifted to sit in front of Boromir.

Normally hobbits did not like to travel with their feet so far from de ground but being a member of the fellowship and being “Mad” Bilbo Baggins’ nephew, gave him opportunities to ride ponies and horses often enough to get used to it.

The two men and the hobbit talked amicably, catching up on what had happened since the last time they saw each other.

\-------------

When they arrived at the stables, it was indeed a surprise that greeted them.

They had found Legolas curled up on a pile of hay. It looked like a bad attempt at a nest.

"Legolas!" Boromir dismounted in a hurry to get to his friend, Aragorn followed closely with Frodo at the doors of the stable where he had helped in opening them.

"What happened? Is he alright?" Asked the Hobbit. He sounded afraid. Aragorn got closer to the elf, brushing a few strands of blond hair out of his face. He smiled reassuringly to the Hobbit.

"Yes, he is alright. He is just sleeping." Boromir looked incredulous.

"Sleeping? I thought elves slept with their eyes open wide?"

"Most of the time they do. However, there is something that elves call “true sleep” or “deep sleep” as opposed to “rêverie” where they have their eyes open.

I remember, when I was a kid in Rivendell, scouts would come back after long periods without sleeping and they would collapse on the spot because they got so exhausted." Aragorn looked at the hobbit. Frodo had gently taken Legolas’ hand in his.

"Can we do something?" Aragorn nodded.

"Lead the way young master Baggins. Boromir and I will take him to Bag End to lay him down more comfortably, and we will come back for our bags and rub down our horses."

The two of them carried the blond elf to the Smial and were led by an astonished Bilbo to a room with a big bed for Legolas. They set him down, and Frodo tucked him in carefully.

"He’s heavier than he looks." Aragorn turned to his friend, still amused by the situation.

"Elves are indeed surprising creatures."

\-------------

In the next days, the rest of the Fellowship arrived at Bag End but Legolas did not wake up for a few more days.

When he finally did, they were all waiting, impatient to greet him. Sam, who was in the elf’s room at that time, looking after him, got to do it first.

Sam noted that Legolas was slow to open his eyes and he had to blink a few times before he looked alert enough to recognize the hobbit.

"Sam? Where am I? What happened?" the hobbit gave him a cup of water to clear his mind.

"You are in Bag End. You slept for a few days. Aragorn said you must have been quite tired after travelling and fell asleep in the stables." Still disoriented, Legolas took a second to answer.

“Oh, I see… where are the others?”

“Probably in the sitting room. We’ve been waiting for you mister Legolas." Legolas looked mortified.

“Great… Let's go then.”

In the sitting room, Aragorn was talking to Bilbo, in the meantime Boromir and Gimli were enjoying the warmth of the chimney while listening to the younger hobbits’ antics. When Sam arrived with Legolas in tow they all turned and greeted their friend, happy to see him well. They eventually all sat down around the elf.

“How do you feel?” asked Merry. Legolas looked around for a bit, relaxing when he saw that his friends were genuinely worried and would not laugh at him for forgetting something as simple as sleep.

“I’m alright… a bit hungry, but I am well rested." He smiled. His friends looked relieved to hear that. Pippin even got up to go and get him something to snack on from the kitchen.

“What happened to you Legolas?” asked Aragorn “what made you exhaust yourself?”

Legolas looked sheepish “I was trying to surprise you." Gimli gently tapped his shoulder, careful to not jostle the blond.

“That you did lad!”


End file.
